Urine shield

ABSTRACT

An inconspicuous urine collection shield for fitting underneath and around the sides of an upholstered or cushioned seat of a chair. When the chair is occupied by a person who has lost normal bladder control, the urine can run down any or all four sides of the chair seat and collect in the portion of the shield which fits underneath the seat. Suitable fastening means are provided for removably securing the shield in place so that it can be partially removed for draining or completely removed for cleaning purposes. If desired the shield may be provided with a tubular attachment for connection to an indwelling catheter. A simple drain tube may be attached to the shield so that urine collected therein may be drained from time to time without releasing and lowering any portion of the shield.

United States Patent (1 1 Miller [451 Jan. 29, 1974 URINE SHIELD [76] Inventor: Marjorie A. Miller, Rt. 2, Box 414 A, Sleepy Hollow Rd., Dundee, 111. 601 18 22 Filed: 0ct.26, 1972 [21] Appl. No.; 300,900

521 U.S. c1 4/134, 4/010. 5, 297/182 [51] Int. CL... A47k 11/04, A47k 11/06, A6lg 7/04 [58] Field of Search... 4/134, 1, 135, 138, 121, 139,

4/DIG. 5; 297/182, 192, 193

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,585,434 2/1952 Caponera 297/182 2,771,127 11/1956 Cole 297/182 2,938,574 5/1960 =Brown 297/182 3,127,215 3/1964 Hubbard 4/134 X Primary Examiner-Henry K. Artis Attorney, Agent, or FirmLockwood, Dewey, Zickert & Alex 57 ABSTRACT An inconspicuous urine collection shield for fitting underneath and around the sides of an upholstered or cushioned seat of a chair. When the chair is occupied by a person who has lost normal bladder control, the urine can run down any or all four sides of the chair seat and collect in the portion of the shield which fits underneath the seat. Suitable fastening means are provided for removably securing'the shield in place so that it can be partially removed for draining or com- I pletely removed for pleaning purposes. If desired the shield may be provided with a tubular attachment for connection to an indwelling catheter. A simple drain tube may be attached to the shield so that urine collected therein may be drained from time to time without releasing and lowering any portion of the shield.

' 6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENTED JAN 2 91914 SHEET 2 BF 2 URINE SHIELD This invention relates generally to innovations and improvements in urine collection shields that may be inconspicuously attached to a cushioned chair seat so as to extend around the sides and underneath the same. More specifically, the invention relates to such a urine collection shield which is formed of an inexpensive flexible sheet material such as waterproof plastic with suitable fastening means to detachably secure the same in place. The shields are convenient and versatile in use.

In its simplest form the urine collection shield of the present invention consistsof a film or sheet of plastic, rubberized fabric or other waterproof material which has a peripheral marginal portion adapted to fit around the four sides of a cushioned chair seat and an interior portion which fits underneath the chair seat, together with suitable attaching means to secure the shield in place. Preferably, a stiffening member is provided along the upper edge of the front marginal portion so as to prevent the chair occupants legs from misplacing the front portion of the shield.

In a simple form of the urine collection shield one corner or side may be temporarily detached from the chair seat and lowered for draining the contents of the shield. In a more elegant version a drain tube is permanently provided having a clamp or inexpensive valve for use in draining the shield contents.

In order to make the urine collection shield useful with persons having indwelling catheters the shield may be provided with a tubular connection to which the outer end of a catheter tube may be connected so that it will drain into the shield. The urine collection shield of the present invention finds use in connection with persons who have lost normal bladder control and those who have an indwelling catheter and for aiding in the retraining-of bladder control by clamping and unclamping of catheter tubing. I

At the present time, persons who have lost normal bladder control but who are mentally alert such as many older persons who reside in nursing homes, present real problems to the staffand attendants of such places'and suffer acutely from their demoralizing and embarrassing condition. At the present time .persons who have lost normal bladder control are often segregated or isolated from other occupants of a nursing home or institution for no other reason. The stafl and attendants ususall'y do not have time available to permit these unfortunate persons or patients to be seated with other persons or patients and maintain the necessary degree of care and attention to avoid the soiling of the tile, inexpensive, easily manipulated, and readily.

cleaned urine collection shields for attachment to the cushioned or upholstered seats of chairs.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of urine collection Shields of the foregoing type which are provided with convenient drainage connections and/or connections to indwelling catheters.

Certain other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and appear hereinafter.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of the invention reference may now be had to the following detailed description thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional geriatric chair having attached thereto a urine collection shield forming one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the seat of the chair shown in FIG. 1 taken on line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevational view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the shield laid out flat; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary detail view on enlarged scale on line 66 of FIG. 5.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a geriatric chair of conventional type and construction is indicated generally at 5 having an upholstered or cushioned seat 6. It will be understood that the geriatric chair 5 is illustrative and that any chair h-avinga cushioned or upholstered seat could have the urine collection shield attached to it. Of course, the seat 6 should be upholstered or covered with some type of waterproof covering such as one of the plastic materials used for upholstering purposes. A urine collection shield forming one embodiment of the present invention is indicated generally at 7 in FIG. 1 applied or attached to the chair cushion or seat 6 and in FIG. 5 in its unattached flattened out condition.

Referring next to FIGS. 5 and 6, the shield 7 may be formed of any inexpensive waterproof sheet material such as polyvinyl chloride film, polyethylene film, Pliofilm, saran film, rubber sheeting, rubberized fabric, etc. The sheet or film material from which the shield 7 is formed may be clear, transparent, translucent, opaque or colored, as desired.

In one specific embodiment of the invention a sheet of polyvinyl film is used which is rectangular and measures 3'4 inches'by 30 inches. Each of the longer sides may first be folded back one inch as indicated at 10- 8in FIG. 5. The folds may be conveniently secured in various way such as by applying pieces of waterproof tape llll. Next, the narrow (i.e., 30 inches) ends are folded back three inches as indicated at 12-12 and the folds secured by additional patches or pieces of tape 11-11. It will be understood that instead of using pieces of tape, other fastening means can be used such as conventional snap fasteners, Velcro tape, suitable adhesives, or heat sealing.

A' length 13 of stiffening material is inserted in one of the wider folds 12. For example, a length of relatively heavy plastic coated wire may serve as the stiffening member 13. Alternatively, relatively stiff plastic tubing, flexible plastic rod, flexible metal tubing,

wooden rods, etc. may be used. The purpose of the stiffening member 13' will be brought out below in connection with FIG. 1. If desired, additional stiffening or reinforcing elements similar to 13 may be installed in one or more of the remaining sides ofthe shield. Preferably, the elements 13 are removable so as to facilitate packaging, storing and shipping the shields.

' After the plastic sheet has been folded at lI0 and 12--12 and the folds secured as described in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6, metal snap fasteners of known conventional type, are applied in appropriate locations. Thus, at each of the four corners there will be a male snap fastener 14 which is placed inwardly approximately 7% to 1 inch from each of the edges. The snap fasteners 14 are of the known conventional type which include one part 15 having an upstanding hollow stem 16 which telescopes in the hollow projection 17 which extends integrally from the second part 18. As is well understood the hollowstem 16 is placed through an opening in the material, the second part 18 is on the side opposite part 15 with projection 17 fitting over the stem 1'6. Then the parts 15 and 18 are pressed together and interfitting hollow pins 16 and 17 are crimped thereby permanently setting the fastener parts together to form the male snap fastener.

Each of the snap fasteners 14 having a pin 17 projecting from it isadapted to cooperate with the socket of a female snap fastener 20 of the type having one part 21 on one side of the material and a second part 22 on the opposite side with the parts being set together so as to provide a snap socket 23 on the side of the material opposite the pin 17 of the cooperating fastener 14. As is well understood, the pin 17 of a fastener 14 will be snapped into the socket 23 of a fastener 20.

In addition to the snap fasteners 20 that cooperate with the respective fasteners 14, additional fasteners 24-24 are provided in the material along the narrow fold 10 as shown for a purpose to be described in connection with FIG. 1.

After the shield 7 has been made up and the snap fasteners applied as described hereinabove in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6, it is ready to be attached to the chair seat 6. Attachment is conveniently made by simply placing the shield 7 underneath the chair seat with the stiffening member 13 to the front. The shield 7 is then manipulated at each of the corners so that each set of cooperating snap fasteners 14 and 21 is snapped together around one of the four corner chair posts 24 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. The stiffening member 13 is conformed to the shape of the front side of the seat cushion 6 and the purpose is to prevent the legs of a person sitting in the chair 5 from misplacing the front portion of the shield 7.

In order to further secure the urine collection shield 7 in place it is desirable to provide one or more cross straps 25 which can have male snap fasteners 2626 on opposite ends so as to cooperate with the snap fasteners 24 as shown in FIGS. 1-3.

The urine collection shield 7 is applied to the chair seat 6 in such manner that the peripheral edges of the shield are not drawn tightly against the sides of the cushion but fit relatively loosely in juxtaposed relationship so that any liquid that is received on the seat cover will run off toward one side of the seat cushion or cover 6 and down in between the upturned juxtaposed margin of the shield 7 and the adjacent side of the cushion or seat. Such liquid will, of course, collect in the interior I or bottom portion of a shield which is underneath the seat or cushion 6.

Depending upon the needs of each chair occupant the urine collected inconspicuously under the chair seat can be emptied from time to time by simply unsnapping one of the corners of the shield and allowing the liquid to drain off into a suitable receptacle. If desired, at a small additional expense the shield 7 may be provided with a simple drain tube 30 with petcock valve 31 (FIGS. 3 and 4) toward the rear portion of the shield. By opening the valve 31 collected liquid can be drained from the shield 7 without detachingit.

If desired, the shield 7 can also be provided with a permanently attached length of tubing 36 the unattached end 37 of which may be connected the drain end of an indwelling catheter extending from the occupant of the chair 5. An inexpensive pinch clamp 38 may be applied to the length of tubing 36 so as to pinch off the tube as desired.

It will be appreciated that a number of specific changes of a design nature may be made in the urine collection shield 7 without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, the straps 25 could be criss-crossed from corner to comer of the seat cushion 6 instead of extending parallel across the seat or there could be straps extending at right angles from side to side and from front to back. Instead of using conventional snap fasteners it will be understood that other known fastening means can be used such as hooks, grommets, ties, pieces of Velcro tape etc. It will be understood that the corner snaps may be dispensed with and straps alone depended upon to secure the upturnedmargins of urine shield 7 in place around the chair seat 6.

Since theurine collection shields of this invention do not need to have a close fitting relationship with respect to a chair seat one sized shield can be adapted to chair seats or cushions of different specific dimensions but of relatively the same size. Accordingly, it is not necessary to have a large number of different sizes of the urine collection shields in order to accommodate the seats or cushions of allthe different chairs that will normally be encountered for use with the shield ranging from a childs high chair through a full-sized chair or larger.

It will be appreciated that the urine collection shields can be readily maintained in a clean and sanitary condition by removing the same and washing or cleansing them in a sink and then wiping them dry with a towel before they are replaced.

It will be appreciated that the urine collection shield 7 and modifications thereof are relatively inconspicuous. Thus, a person who has lost bladder control or has an indwelling catheter may occupy a chair fitted with.

' one of the urine collection shields without standing out or appearing conspicuous. On the other hand, there is no danger of a liquid escaping so as to collect on or soil the floor covering underneath the chair;

Furthermore, a shield-equipped chair may be moved around freely without fear of any spilling occurring.

I claim:

1. For combination with a chair having a cushioned seat which is upholstered with a waterproof material, a urine collection shield comprising, a sheet of waterproof material having a peripheral marginal portion adapted to fit upwardly around said seat relatively loosely in juxtaposed relationship to the sides thereof so that liquid received on said seat will run off toward at least one side thereof and down between said side and said peripheral marginal portion and an interior portion within said peripheral marginal portion adapted to fit underneath said seat and collect said liquid, and means for attaching said sheet to said chair so as to fit said seat as stated.

fastening means comprises chair seat corner post attaching means and over-the-seat strap means.

5. The urine collection shield of claim 1 having a drain depending from said inner portion.

6. The urine collection shield of claim 1 having a length of tubing connected at one end with said inner portion and the other end adapted to have a catheter connected thereto. 

1. For combination with a chair having a cushioned seat which is upholstered with a waterproof material, a urine collection shield comprising, a sheet of waterproof material having a peripheral marginal portion adapted to fit upwardly around said seat relatively loosely in juxtaposed relationship to the sides thereof so that liquid received on said seat will run off toward at least one side thereof and down between said side and said peripheral marginal portion and an interior portion within said peripheral marginal portion adapted to fit underneath said seat and collect said liquid, and means for attaching said sheet to said chair so as to fit said seat as stated.
 2. The urine collection shield of claim 1 having stiffening means in the upper edge of at least the section of said peripheral marginal portion juxtaposed along the front side of said seat so as to prevent misplacement by an occupant''s legs.
 3. The urine collection shield of claim 1 wherein said sheet of waterproof material is formed of flexible or semi-flexible plastic.
 4. The urine collection shield of claim 1 wherein said fastening means comprises chair seat corner post attaching means and over-the-seat strap means.
 5. The urine collection shield of claim 1 having a drain depending from said inner portion.
 6. The urine collection shield of claim 1 having a length of tubing connected at one end with said inner portion and the other end adapted to have a catheter connected thereto. 